CB360 Composite National Rankings #10 (4/18/18)

The mid-April update to CB360’s exclusive Composite National Rankings (CNR) Top-50 – tabulated after games played on April 18 – features Florida still firmly holding onto the top position and Stanford again at No. 2, while Texas Tech has moved back up a spot to No. 3, swapping positions with current No. 4 Arkansas. The rest of the current top-10 includes: Oregon State, Ole Miss, North Carolina State, Texas A&M, East Carolina and North Carolina.

A&M (#14 a week ago) has returned to the top-10 for the first time in five weeks, thanks to a series sweep of Alabama (then CB360 #35) and midweek win over Texas State. More notably, North Carolina is back among the top-10 for the first time since the second week of the season, with UNC’s recent surge including series wins over Wake Forest, Miami and Virginia.

Clemson took a big tumble in the CNR (#6 to #18), after losing a home series to Miami and then losing midweek at Georgia. Another ACC team, Florida State, finds itself outside the top-10 for the first time in five weeks, after being swept by Duke in a two-game series.

During the turbulent 2018 season, East Carolina recently became the 18th different team to sit among the CB360 Composite top-10 at some point this season, with those teams including the current top-10 along with TCU (now not even in the top-50), Kentucky, LSU, Louisville, Vanderbilt, Clemson & Auburn.

(Note – plenty of notes and breakdown lists included on this release page, including the full top-50 plus each teams weekly position, lists of teams that have fallen out of the top-50 each week, links to the 20 elements currently in the CNR formula; scroll down … )

The CNR now features 22 different elements (all linked below) in the formula, reflecting the use of more computerized ratings that in some cases results in certain teams being slotted lower than their standing within the “human” polls. Three different NCAA Tournament projections also now are part of the CNR formula.

• Top-10/Top-16:– The SEC accounts for nearly half (4) of the CNR’s current top-10, followed by two teams each from the Pac-12 and ACC, plus the Big 12’s Texas Tech and the AAC’s East Carolina. Expanding out to the current top-16 (i.e. forecasted NCAA Regional top seeds/hosts), the breakdown includes: 7 SEC, 3 ACC, 2 Pac-12, 1 Big 12, 1 American Athletic Conf., 1 Big Ten and 1 Sun Belt.

• Coming & Going– Five teams this week have returned to/entered the CNR Top-50: [39] St. John’s, [40] Nevada, [43] Michigan, [45] Oklahoma State and [50] Jacksonville (the only true newcomer among the five) … Michigan and OK State gradually have clawed back into the Top-50, for the first time since the second week of the season … Sam Houston State, Alabama, Northeastern, Missouri State and FGCU all have slipped outside the Top-50 in the current update … TCU (preseason #5) had been in the CNR Top–50 all season, prior to a couple weeks ago … last month, Virginia (preseason #16) fell out of the CNR Top–50.

• Top-10 Regulars – Only three teams have been in the CNR Top–10 all season: Florida (1-2-3-4-8-7-1-1-1-1), Texas Tech (3-3-2-1-1-6-4-3-4-3) and Oregon State (2-1-1-2-2-1-5-7-8-5) … with Texas Tech now being the only team 6th or higher all season in the CB360 Composite Rankings.

• Quick Climbers – NC State opened the season at #24 in the CNR but now has risen all the way to #7, while #9 East Carolina is another recent top-10 newcomer, after not even being in the CB360 preseason top-50.

• That’s Why They Play The Games – 19 of the teams in the current CNR Top-50 were not in the preseason Top–50, most notably current #9 East Carolina along with [12] Georgia and [22] Tennessee Tech. There are 10 other current top-40 teams that were not among the CNR preseason Top–50: [26] Florida Atlantic, [28] Wichita State, [30] Minnesota, [32] South Florida, [33] Connecticut, [34] Illinois, [35] Missouri, [36] UNLV, [37] Stetson & [40] Nevada … six other teams currently in the 41-50 range likewise were not CNR preseason Top-50 squads: [41] Troy, [42] Ohio State, [44] Charleston, [46] Creighton, [48] Louisiana Tech & [50] Jacksonville.

COMPOSITE NATIONAL RANKINGS (CNR) CRITERIA: Teams receive points based on their standings in each poll/rating/projection (60 pts for #1; 59 for #2, etc.). For polls involving voting points (coaches and CB) and the various RPI-type ratings, the CNR adjusts to reward teams that have larger margins in the voting/point totals (whereas two teams with nearly the same voting-point total will be closer in the CNR allotment for that poll). Note that strength-of-schedule typically is factored into RPI formulations … thus the actual SOS numbers only are used early in the season (SOS are not used in the CNR when RPI already are in the mix). For the NCAA field projections, teams are awarded CNR points based on their respective seedings, “last in” and “last out,” etc.

The polls/ratings/projections are averaged, with 40 points typically then added to each total in order to yield the 100-point benchmark. Early in the season (projected SOS; and preseason conference coaches polls) and late in the season (final-10 games), a maximum bonus/penalty of 2.0 (SOS & conf. poll) or 0.5 points (final-10) is factored into the formula (in that case, 38.0, or 39.5, rather than 40, is added to the poll/rating/projection avg.).
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